My sister Mary

On Saturday night my little sister Mary, who is 19, was badly injured in an accident. It has been a long and difficult week for her, and for the whole family. My sister Stephanie and I have made a blog to help keep people informed on her progress and recovery, and I just finished posting on her post-surgery status. I'm feeling really worried and helpless right now. Here is the blog address in case you want to keep updated on her progress: www.marythompsonupdates.blogspot.com. The link is also listed on my sidebar in my blog list.

Your prayers would be appreciated!!

Six Flags

We have Six Flags season passes again this year, and so we've taken a couple of trips there so far this summer. Ruby has finally surpassed the 36 inch mark, so she is able to go on a lot more rides. And the kids are ALL being really brave this year, conquering all sorts of fears, and it's been really fun to see them having so much fun. Here are a few fun pictures of our outings so far...

Our backyard friend

We have a backyard friend!! His name is Bunny. And he's a bunny. And he lives in our backyard in some of our grasses and shrubs. We really should be annoyed that he is back there, eating our garden, but come on...he is cute!! It's the closest my kids might ever get to a pet!! Can you see him in there???

4th of July

We had such a great 4th of July this year. Even though San Antonio is experiencing a major drought, and so we had a burn ban in effect (meaning no fireworks of any kind, at home or even the big firework shows), we still had such an awesome day. It was just perfect! We started off the day with a nice, easy morning - blueberry pancakes and lounging around - while I started working on the flag jello. At lunchtime we headed down to our neighborhood pool where we swam and played and ate with a big group of friends. It was really fun. Then we came home, took naps and cleaned up, and then went to the church for a 4th of July BBQ and bike parade. It was a lot of fun, being there with all our friends, and the kids (and Bryan!) all had a great time riding bikes and running around with their friends. It was an awesome day!
***Note - you may notice that there is a distinct difference between the first few pictures and the rest. That's because my camera ran out of battery and I had to enlist the help of my friend Jenni to capture the evening's pictures for me. As you can tell, she has a much better camera and much more skill than me!! Thanks Jenni!

Bryan's Olympic Triathlon

Bryan just completed his first Olympic length Triathlon, and he loved it! For those of you non-triathloners, that means he did a 1500m open water swim, a 40 K bike ride, and a 10 K run. Sounds miserable, doesn't it?? But he did a great job. We were glad that we were in town this year (we missed last year's sprint triathlon), and the kids loved cheering him on. He did really awesome in the swim, and was the 4th one out of the water in his age division. He did really well on the bike and run, too, and felt really good about his finish - 2:38:50. Way to go Daddy!!!

Ella loses her first tooth!!

Ella has been very impatiently waiting for her first tooth to get loose. She really wanted to put a tally mark on the tooth chart in her Kindergarten class!! But it was not looking likely. So one day, about 2 weeks before school let out, I was sitting and chatting with Ella. I happened to ask her if she had any loose teeth yet. She said, "No, but I do have this bump in my mouth. It's been there for 12 days." So I looked in her mouth, to see this mysterious bump, and boy was I surprised to see a tooth growing in - right behind her baby teeth! I said, "Ella!! It's a tooth!!!" Whereupon she burst into tears. "It's not growing in the right place!!! " (Wail, wail, wail) So after calming her down, and forcing that baby tooth in front of the new one to start wiggling, we just waited and wiggled. And it was finally ready to come out! Even though she missed being able to make her tally mark, since school was out, she was ready to get rid of that tooth. So I tried giving it a good tug - it didn't come out - and then she reached in and pulled it out herself! Way to go little Ella!! I think she's going to have some crowding issues and some serious orthodontics in her future, but for now she's just happy to have joined the ranks of the toothless.

Family Pictures

You can't have a Family Reunion without the family picture session!! It was actually quite painless, I have to say. The weather could not have been nicer, we found a really pretty spot for pictures right across the road from our cabins, and my friends Val and Linna drove up to take the pictures. They did a great job, and we will always be glad to have these pictures of all of us together.

Carlson Family Reunion

The day that school got out, the entire extended Carlson family flew into San Antonio for a little family reunion. We spent most of the time up at Canyon Lake, staying in 4 cabins up there, boating and playing at the beach. We all had such a great time, and were so grateful that everybody made such an effort to be here. Here are just a few pictures from the MANY that were taken!